Enríquez-Ominami Becomes a Factor in Chile: A...

Enríquez-Ominami Becomes a Factor in Chile

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The second round of Chile’s presidential election could become a tighter contest if independent candidate Marco Enríquez-Ominami is one of the two participants, according to a poll by CERC. 45 per cent of respondents would support Sebastián Piñera of the conservative Alliance for Chile (AC) in the run-off, while 36 per cent would back Enríquez-Ominami.

Piñera is ahead in the first round scenario with 41 per cent, followed by former president Eduardo Frei Ruiz Tagle of the centre-left Agreement of Parties for Democracy (CPD) with 20 per cent, Enríquez-Ominami also with 20 per cent, and left-wing candidate Jorge Arrate with three per cent.

In a run-off scenario featuring Piñera and Frei, the conservative candidate holds a 16-point lead.

The CPD’s Michelle Bachelet—a former defence minister—was elected in a January 2006 run-off with 53.49 per cent of all cast ballots. Piñera was second with 46.51 per cent.

The CPD—which includes the Socialist Party (PS), the Christian-Democratic Party of Chile (PCD), the Party for Democracy (PD) and the Radical Social-Democratic Party (PRSD)—has not lost a single presidential election in Chile since the return of democracy after the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in March 1990. The centre-right APC encompasses Piñera’s National Renewal (RN) and the Independent Democratic Union (UDI).

In October 2008, Piñera’s RN achieved significant victories in local elections across the country. For the first time, centre-right parties have more elected mayors than centre-left organizations.

Frei served as Chile’s president from March 1994 to March 2000. Enríquez-Ominami split from the Socialists earlier this year to run as an independent. He is an elected deputy in the lower house. His father, the late Miguel Enríquez Espinosa, was the founder and secretary general of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), and was assassinated by the Pinochet regime when Ominami was three months old.

On Oct. 28, Enríquez-Ominami discussed his views on former Spanish president José María Aznar—who visited Chile last month as Piñera’s guest—declaring, "I would have never brought to Chile one of the heads of state who lied the most to the world, who lied the most to his people, and who dragged Spain into a bloody war. (...) The next step [for Piñera] is to come clean and say he was in favour of the Iraq war."

Bachelet is ineligible for a consecutive term in office. The first round of Chile’s presidential election is scheduled for Dec. 11.

Polling Data

If the presidential election took place this Sunday and these were the candidates, which one of them would you vote for?

Oct. 2009

Aug. 2009

Sebastián Piñera

41%

37%

Eduardo Frei Ruiz Tagle

20%

22%

Marco Enríquez-Ominami

20%

15%

Jorge Arrate

3%

1%

Alejandro Navarro

--

1%

Other / None / Not sure

14%

24%

If a second round takes place, which one of these candidates would you vote for?

Oct. 2009

Aug. 2009

Sebastián Piñera

49%

41%

Eduardo Frei Ruiz Tagle

33%

33%

Other / None / Not sure

18%

26%

If a second round takes place, which one of these candidates would you vote for?

Oct. 2009

Sebastián Piñera

45%

Marco Enríquez-Ominami

36%

Other / None / Not sure

18%

Source: Centro de Estudios de la Realidad Contemporánea (CERC)
Methodology: Interviews with 1,200 Chilean adults, conducted from Oct. 2 to Oct. 13, 2009. Margin of error is 3 per cent.